SINGAPORE (VNS) – US-based Microsoft Corp introduced its Universal Windows Platform, an evolution of the same modern platform on phones since Windows 8.1 and PCs since Windows 8, at the annual Build developer conference in Singapore on Thursday.

The new platform enables developers to create a single application that runs across the full range of Windows 10 devices such as tablets, phones and PCs, as well as the emerging Internet of Things and Microsoft HoloLens, the first fully untethered, see-through holographic computer.

They can also tailor their apps to the capacity of each device, integrate virtual assistant Cortana and online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service Xbox Live into their apps, offer trusted commerce, as well as create holograms and publish their apps in the Windows Store.

The technology firm has also provided developers with four new software development toolkits that will help them bring their code for the Web, .Net, Win32, iOS, and Android, to the Windows Store with minimal modifications.

"The reason (why Microsoft has built the platform) is that we acknowledge that developers, customers, and consumers are using multiple devices. As developers, you really care how users experience their devices. Our vision is to set up a platform that will empower developers to give users experience across devices and services," said Giorgio Sardo, Senior Director of the corporation's Developer Experience & Evangelism Group.

Microsoft added over 2,500 new classes to the Universal Windows Platform application programming interface (API) set for a total of over 8,600 new APIs, a 60 per cent increase from Windows 8.1.

Andrey Terekhov, Technical Evangelism Lead of Microsoft APAC, noted that the number of developers who engage in building apps for Windows in the Asia Pacific region has reached more than 74,500, and they are mostly from Australia, New Zealand, Viet Nam, and Thailand.

"There is a lot of interest in app development in Viet Nam. The famous case, you know, is Flappy Bird. There is also a growing interest in Windows Phone development. So, we have started some special programmes to help developers understand how they can actually start developing software for Windows Phone," he said. "Vietnamese developers know how to do that. They are very good at technical skills."

At the event, Microsoft also introduced its Azure SQL Database, a new cloud database option that allows for resource pooling across databases to support explosive growth and profitable business models. It also unveiled Azure SQL Data Warehouse, an elastic data warehouse-as-a-service with enterprise class-features and Azure Data Lake, a hyper-scale data repository designed for large data analytic workloads. — VNS